UiO-66 metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be endowed with greatly enhanced photocatalytic properties by introducing titanium into the frameworks. A microwave-assisted method was developed to substitute the zirconium with titanium in UiO-66, which was accomplished within a few hours compared to several days reported previously, with the crystallinity well maintained and photocatalytic activities tremendously improved.

Comprehensive analysis of single-cell metabolites is critical since differences in cellular chemical compositions give rise to specialized biological functions. Herein, we propose a label-free mass cytometry by coupling flow cytometry to ESI-MS (named CyESI-MS) for high-coverage and high-throughput detection of cellular metabolites. Cells in suspension were isolated, online extracted by sheath fluid, and lysed during gas-assisted electrospray, followed by real-time MS analysis. Hundreds of metabolites, including nucleotides, amino acids, peptides, carbohydrates, fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, and sphingolipids, were detected and identified from one single cell. Discrimination of four types of cancer cell lines and even three subtypes of breast cancer cells was readily achieved using their distinct metabolic profiles. Furthermore, we screened out 102 characteristic ions from 615 detected peak signals for distinguishing breast cancer cell subtypes and identified 40 characteristic molecules which exhibited significant differences among these subtypes and would be potential metabolic markers for clinical diagnosis. CyESI-MS is expected to be a new-generation mass cytometry for studying cell heterogeneity on the metabolic level.

A simple and rapid fluorescence sensing platform based on the MIL-53(Fe) MOF was developed for fast, highly selective and ultrasensitive direct determination of MeHg(+).

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Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)-based colorimetric assays are of particular interest since molecular events can be easily read out with the color changes of AuNPs by the naked eye. However, the molecular recognitions occur almost exclusively in the liquid phase (i.e., the interaction between target analytes and AuNPs is always proceeded in the presence of the sample matrix). Since the aggregation of the unmodified AuNPs is prone to be influenced by the ionic strength of the solution, sample matrix will cause undesirable interference. Here, we proposed a new type of AuNP-based colorimetric assay, in which target analyte selenium was first converted to its hydride chemical vapor (HSe) and then delivered into the solution of AuNPs to induce color change. Therefore, sample matrix (for example, high salinity) were eliminated, leading to excellent selectivity. With the aid of hydride generation, the proposed method offered a detection limit of 0.05 μM with UV-vis detection and 1 μM with the naked eye. Successful application of this method for selenium detection in biological and environmental samples was demonstrated.

Low temperature and atmospheric pressure plasmainduced polymerization was demonstrated as a fast and facile strategy for tailoring of packing phase of COF-1 as well as preparing diverse covalent organic frameworks (COFs) including both two-dimensional (2D) COFs and three-dimensional (3D) COFs. By regulating the solvents, the fast construction of well-ordered AB staggered COF-1 and AA eclipsed COF-1 was facilely realized in minutes. The plasma approach presented here led to the rapid preparation of eight classical 2D COFs, including boronate ester-linkage (COF-5, COF-8 and COF-10), azine-linkage (NUS-2), b-ketoenaminelinkage (TpPa, TPBD), imine-linkage (ILCOF-1, Py-COF), and 3D-COF-102 (boroxine linkage) in less than 1 hour. Different from conventional methods, the proposed methodology required much less time, lower power, no extra heating, inert-gas protection and pressure. The fast nucleation and growth of COFs with good crystallinity, morphology and thermal stability can be achieved under mild conditions.Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a novel class of porous materials with predesignable two-dimension (2D) and three-dimension (3D) structures [1] composed of organic subunits linked by covalent bonds. [2] COFs have demonstrated attractive properties including good crystallinity, high surface area, exceptional stability, permanent porosity and low density, which make COFs very promising for diverse applications in gas capture, [3] separation, [4] sensing, [5] catalysis [6] and semiconductors. [7] The last two decades witnessed blooming studies of COFs, [8] in which most COFs are

The success of cancer gene therapy highly relies on the gene delivery vector with high transfection activity and low toxicity. In the present study, eight-armed polyethylene glycol (EAP) and low molecular weight (LMW) polyethylenimine (PEI) were used as basic units to construct the architecture of a new star-shaped EAP-PEI copolymer (EAPP). MC11, a peptide capable of selectively binding fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) on tumor cell membranes, was further conjugated to EAPP to produce the vector EAPP-MC11 (EAPPM) to enhance tumor targetability. This tumor-targeting vector EAPPM was observed to retard the plasmids mobility at a nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) ratio of 3. The vector could efficiently condense plasmids within 300 nm nanoparticles with a positive zeta potential at the N/P ratio of 20 or above. While the cytotoxicity of EAPPM polyplexes was similar to that of LMW PEI, it was significantly lower than that of PEI (25 kDa) in HepG2 and PC3 cell lines. In vitro gene transfection with pDNA mediated by EAPPM showed that the transfection efficiency increased 15 times in HepG2 cells but remained at a similar level in PC3 cells in comparison with that of EAPP. By systemic injection of EAPPM/pDNA complexes into a HepG2-bearing mice model, luciferase expression detected in lung, liver, and tumor tissues demonstrated EAPPM could deliver in a targeted manner a reporter gene into tumor tissues, where the luciferase expression of EAPPM was 4 times higher than that of EAPP and even 23 times higher than that of PEI (25 kDa). Furthermore, it was found that the systemic delivery of EAPPM/pCSK-α-interferon complexes in vivo were much more effective in inhibiting tumor growth than EAPP or PEI (25 kDa). These results clearly show that EAPPM is an efficient and safe vector for FGFR-mediated targeted gene delivery both in vitro and in vivo. With low cytotoxicity and high targetability, EAPPM may have great potential as a delivery vector for future cancer gene therapy applications.

A fast, energy-saving and green strategy was proposed for preparing diverse and fine-tuned metal–organic frameworks in either DMF or ethanol, catalyzed by liquid-phase plasma generated via dielectric barrier discharge.